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The
Challenge, continued
Hertzberg
recalled that the thing he got the most press for was a
transportation bill that upped the penalty for cars crossing the
railroad tracks when the gates are down – the coverage came not
on the weight of the issue, but because at the press conference
they “had a locomotive hit a van – we had helicopters and 14
cameras”
So the
incentive for politicians is not to conquer the overarching
intangible problems, but instead to “do the dumb stuff… to do
the stuff that grabs attention,” says Hertzberg. “Newspapers
will put you on the front page if you talk about the crisis of
the day… there’s no architecture and structure of any
consequence that incents long-term thinking.”
The second
structural barrier to regionalism is the power of the status quo,
according to Hertzberg. That is, there are a lot of jobs dependent
on the current structure, a lot of departments worried about their
survival in the midst of change, a lot of people afraid of giving
up any power. “Everybody’s an expert at figuring our 1,000
reasons why their department or their agency is critical and why
it should be protected.”
Finally, there
are myriad special interest groups who form the basis of a
politician’s support, financial and otherwise, who don’t want
to hear about the ways they can compromise or share power. They
want to hear of the politician’s unwavering support for their
cause. This structural reliance of the politician on special
interests further ties their hands to accomplish the kind of
change necessary to nurture regional governance.
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